Blade Shad

Interesting, and nicely done. If it chatters anything like a bladed jig, should be a good bait.  In the delta, one may have to try a single hook on the back hangar, hook point up.  Then it might come through the grass.  Congrats on a great idea.

Neat. I especially like the body shape....

Tell us more about the lip. Attaching it to the tow point instead of seating it in the body is very interesting. How does it react?

Kayjay, the lip is the same as the blade on a Chatterbait, except it is Lexan instead of metal.  The line tie point is actually on the underside of the blade in the pic.  When retrieving, the blade pops up at a 45 degree angle to the bait and begins to 'chatter' back and forth, shaking the body of the bait.  I wanted a bait that would sink quickly and could be slowly retrieved along the bottom while chattering.  An actual Chatterbait does this and basically is a jig with the added vibration caused by its blade.

 

Barry - I know it won't work in weeds like a Chatterbait due to the trebles - but I wanted a bait I could fish deep on ledges without grass, or for suspended bass.  What really prompted me to build it was having to buy expensive swimbaits to use as Chatterbait trailers.  Just thought I'd try building a permanent shad type body and save the expense.

Well, tried it and found the body was too light to sink even at 3/4 oz. it acts like a wake bait right now and am not sure the blade will be large enough to shake it if I add much more ballast. Think I need a narrower body with less buoyancy. Back to the drawing board!

Perhaps you could use a less buoyant wood like walnut or maple.